Battery Buddies: Honda and GM Team Up for EV Battery Development

Even at a time when nearly every major automaker has committed to developing fully electric vehicles intended to do more than just satisfy regulators, EVs still face some serious hurdles. In order to be viable—and profitable—as mass-market offerings, future EVs will need batteries with higher energy density, smaller packaging, and the potential for faster charging.

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These happen to be the three targets mentioned by a new multiyear battery partnership between General Motors and Honda. The automakers intend to combine forces to achieve economies of scale and bring costs down.

The partnership will apply to advanced battery cells and modules for electric vehicles, primarily for North America, which gives Honda the option to source battery modules from GM. The automakers haven’t disclosed information on the amount of any financial commitment, how manufacturing capacity might be balanced, or the intended length of the collaboration.

Car and Driver

Honda and GM have had various powertrain partnerships in the past. You may recall that Honda V-6 engines were used in some Saturn models, for instance. Under a partnership announced in January 2017, GM and Honda have allied to develop and manufacture the next generation of their core fuel-cell hardware together, beginning in 2020 at GM’s facility in Brownstown Township, Michigan. While the two companies didn’t put a dollar amount on the scope of the battery development, each invested $42.5 million in the fuel-cell venture.

GM currently sells the Chevrolet Bolt EV, which has an EPA-rated driving range of 238 miles, but the model reportedly loses thousands of dollars even at full sticker price. Last year, GM CEO Mary Barra announced that the company intends to make its next generation of electric vehicles profitable, while at the same time delivering a range of more than 300 miles for some models, so this partnership may be one of several strategic leaps necessary to achieve that.

At present, Honda’s only all-electric vehicle is the Honda Clarity Electric, a model that is limited to California and Oregon, is offered by lease only, and only has an 89-mile EPA range. Honda is currently working on a dedicated electric-vehicle platform, with the first global products from that—one of the inspired by the Urban EV concept—arriving toward the end of 2019. According to Honda’s chief officer for automobile operations, Takashi Sekiguchi, the partnership will enable the automaker to “take a new step toward the realization of a sustainable society.”

And to realize these lofty goals, such a partnership might help establish what both companies need posthaste—a sustainable business model for EVs.